Solana (SOL) price rose 8% on March 19 as investors turned to riskier assets

Ahead of US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks, Solana's native token, SOL SOLUSD

Solana's native token, SOLSOLUSD, surged 8% on March 19 as investors shifted towards riskier assets following US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks. While interest rates are expected to remain unchanged, analysts anticipate a softer inflation outlook for 2025.

Moreover, key onchain and derivatives metrics for Solana suggest further upside for SOL price.

The cryptocurrency market mirrored the movements in the US stock market during the Asian trading session, indicating that SOL's gains were not driven by industry-specific news. For instance, the SEC may drop its lawsuit against Ripple after four years of litigation.

Tracking US-listed small-cap companies, the Russell 2000 index futures soared to their highest level in twelve days.

Despite a broader slowdown in decentralized application (DApp) activity, Solana stands out. For instance, on March 19, onchain analytics firm Glassnode pointed out that Solana's TVL continues to rise despite weaker DApp trends.

Solana’s onchain volumes dropped 47% over two weeks, but similar declines were seen across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Tron, and Avalanche, highlighting industry-wide trends rather than Solana-specific issues. The Solana network's total value locked (TVL), a measure of deposits, hit its highest level since July 2022, further supporting SOL's bullish momentum.

As of March 17, Solana's TVL increased to 53.2 million SOL, showcasing a 10% rise over the past month. In comparison, BNB Chain's TVL grew by 6% in BNB terms, while Tron's deposits decreased by 8% in TRX terms over the same period. Despite weaker activity in decentralized applications (DApps), Solana continued to attract a steady flow of deposits, highlighting its resilience.

Solana saw strong momentum, driven by Bybit Staking, which surged 51% in deposits since Feb. 17, and Drift, a perpetual trading platform, with a 36% TVL increase. Restaking app Fragmentic also recorded a 65% rise in SOL deposits over 30 days.

In nominal terms, Solana secured its second-place position in TVL at $6.8 billion, exceeding BNB Chain's $5.4 billion.

Despite the market downturn, several Solana DApps remain among the top 10 in fees, outperforming larger competitors like Uniswap and Ethereum's leading staking solutions.

Solana's memecoin launchpad Pump.fun, decentralized exchange Jupiter, automated market maker and liquidity provider Meteora, and staking platform Jito are among the leaders in fees. More notably, Solana's weekly base layer fees have surpassed Ethereum's, which holds the top position with $53.3 billion in TVL.

SOL derivatives hold steady as token unlock fears subside

Despite a 27% decline in SOL's price over 30 days, demand for leveraged positions remains evenly balanced between longs (buyers) and shorts (sellers), as indicated by the futures funding rate.

Periods of high demand for bearish bets typically push the 8-hour perpetual futures funding rate to -0.02%, which equals 1.8% per month. When the rate turns negative, shorts are the ones paying to maintain their positions. The opposite scenario occurs when traders are optimistic about SOL's price, leading to a rise in the funding rate above 0.02%.

However, the recent price weakness did not translate into a greater preference for bearish bets, at least not to the extent of accumulating leveraged positions.

One factor contributing to this dynamic can be explained by the decreasing growth in SOL supply in the coming months, similar to how inflation is measured. A total of 2.72 million SOL will be unlocked in April, but only 0.79 million are expected for May and June.

Overall, considering the resilience in deposits, the lack of leverage demand from bears, and the reduced supply increase in the coming months, SOL appears well-positioned to reclaim the $170 level last seen on March 3.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

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